Elusive Isabel, by Jacques Futrelle Unknown (best fiction novels to read TXT) 📖

“Si, Senor,” he agreed absently. And then, in English: “Yes, I should imagine so.”

“Well, was all of it stolen, or only a part of it?” Mr. Grimm went on.

The minister gazed into the listless eyes for a time, then, apparently bewildered, walked forth and back across the room again. Finally he sat down.

“All of it,” he admitted. “I can’t understand it. No one, not a soul in this house, except myself, knew it was here.”

“In addition to this weight of, say two hundred pounds, fifty thousand dollars would make considerable bulk,” mused Mr. Grimm. “Very well! Therefore it would appear that the person, or persons, who got it must have gone away from here heavily laden?”

Senor Rodriguez nodded.

“And now, Senor,” Mr. Grimm continued, “if you will kindly state the circumstances immediately preceding and following the theft?”

A slight frown which had been growing upon the smooth brow of the diplomatist was instantly dissipated.

“The money—fifty thousand dollars in gold coin—was paid to me yesterday afternoon about four o’clock,” he began slowly, in explanation.

“By Mr. Cressy of the International Investment Company,” supplemented Mr. Grimm. “Yes. Go on.”

The diplomatist favored the young man with one sharp, inquiring glance, and continued:

“The gentleman who paid the money remained here from four until nine o’clock while I, personally, counted it. As I counted it I placed it in canvas bags and when he had gone I took these bags from this room into that,” he indicated a closed door to his right, “and personally stowed them away in the safe. I closed and locked the door of the safe myself; I know that it was locked. And that’s all, except this morning the money was gone—every dollar of it.”

“Safe blown?” inquired Mr. Grimm.

“No, Senor!” exclaimed the diplomatist with sudden violence. “No, the safe was not blown! It was closed and locked, exactly as I had left it!”

Mr. Grimm was idly twisting the seal ring on his little finger.

“Just as I left it!” Senor Rodriguez repeated excitedly. “Last night after I locked the safe door I tried it to make certain that it was locked. I happened to notice then that the pointer on the dial had stopped precisely at number forty-five. This morning, when I unlocked the safe—and, of course, I didn’t know then that the money had been taken—the pointer was still at number forty-five.”

He paused with one hand in the air; Mr. Grimm continued to twist the seal ring.

“It was all like—like some trick on the stage,” the minister went on, “like the magician’s disappearing lady, or—or—! It was as though I had not put the money into the safe at all!”

“Did you?” inquired Mr. Grimm amiably.

“Did I?” blazed Senor Rodriguez. “Why, Senor—! I did!” he concluded meekly.

Mr. Grimm believed him.

“Who else knows the combination of the safe?” he queried.

“No one, Senor—not a living soul.”

“Your secretary, for instance?”

“Not even my secretary.”

“Some servant—some member of your family?”

“I tell you, Senor, not one person in all the world knew that combination except myself,” Senor Rodriguez insisted.

“Your secretary—a servant—some member of your family might have seen you unlock the safe some time, and thus learned the combination?”

Senor Rodriguez did not quite know whether to be annoyed at Mr. Grimm’s persistence, or to admire the tenacity with which he held to this one point.

“You must understand, Senor Grimm, that many state documents are kept in the safe,” he said finally, “therefore it is not advisable that any one should know the combination. I have made it an absolute rule, as did my predecessors here, never to unlock the safe in the presence of another person.”

“State documents!” Mr. Grimm’s lips silently repeated the words. Then aloud: “Perhaps there’s a record of the combination somewhere? If you had died suddenly, for instance, how would the safe have been opened?”

“There would have been only one way, Senor—blow it open. There is no record.”

“Well, if we accept all that as true,” observed Mr. Grimm musingly, “it would seem that you either didn’t put the money into the safe at all, or—please sit down, there’s nothing personal in this—or else the money was taken out of the safe without it being unlocked. This last would have been a miracle, and this is not the day of miracles, therefore—!”

Mr. Grimm’s well modulated voice trailed off into silence. Senor Rodriguez came to his feet with a blaze of anger in his eyes; Mr. Grimm was watching him curiously.

“I understand then, Senor,” said the minister deliberately, “that you believe that I—!”

“I believe that you have told the truth,” interrupted Mr. Grimm placidly, “that is the truth so far as you know it. But you have stated one thing in error. Somebody besides yourself does know the combination. Whether they knew it or not at this time yesterday I can’t say, but somebody knows it now.”

Senor Rodriguez drew a deep breath of relief. The implied accusation had been withdrawn as pleasantly and frankly as it had been put forward.

“I ran across a chap in New York once, for instance,” Mr. Grimm took the trouble to explain, “who could unlock any safe—that is, any safe of the kind used at that time—twelve or fourteen years ago. So you see. I doubt if he would be so successful with the new models, with all their improvements, but then—! You know he would have made an ideal burglar, that chap. Now, Senor, who lives here in the legation with you?”

“My secretary, Senor Diaz, my daughter Inez, and just at the moment, a Miss Thorne—Miss Isabel Thorne,” the senor informed him. “Also four servants—two men and two women.”

“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting your daughter and Miss Thorne,” Mr. Grimm informed him. “Now, suppose we take a look at the safe?”

“Certainly.”

Senor Rodriguez started toward the closed door just as there came a timid knock from the hall. He glanced at Mr. Grimm, who nodded, then he called:

“Come in!”

The door opened, and Miss Thorne entered. She was clad in some filmy, gossamer-like morning gown with her radiant hair caught up